


i do swear. that i'll always be there.

by zaniness



Category: Star Trek, Star Trek: The Next Generation
Genre: Canon Compliant, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-23
Updated: 2020-04-23
Packaged: 2021-03-02 01:42:37
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,423
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23807092
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/zaniness/pseuds/zaniness
Summary: Well, this is hardly what he thought they would be talking about when he was called to the conference room. (Especially after the Case of the Missing Chief Medical Officer.) Saying he’s surprised would be an Enterprise-sized understatement. On the infrequent occasions he imagined this moment, Captain Picard—or Worf, for that matter—never once made an appearance. And the announcement usually comes from Deanna, not the captain.Deanna is pregnant.“This is a surprise,” he says, noticing for the first time how far she sits from the rest of them.“More so for me,” Deanna says. She meets his gaze directly, not backing down from the question in his voice.
Relationships: William Riker/Deanna Troi
Comments: 2
Kudos: 30





	i do swear. that i'll always be there.

I.

All the Enterprise crew has to do is take specimens—dangerous ones, of course—and deliver them to the Rachelis system in the hope that a vaccine can be developed from them. They will also be taking Hester Dealt, the man overseeing the project, to the Rachelis system. Inside Picard’s ready room, La Forge takes Will and Captain Picard through his design for the containment module for the specimens. Will is confident they will be able to complete the delivery without any complications—the objective seems simple enough and La Forge’s work never wavers in its fastidiousness.

However, a problem does arise the next day when the Enterprise’s new chief medical officer fails to report. After contacting sick bay and discovering Dr. Pulaski, the doctor taking over for Dr. Crusher, has found her way into Ten Forward, Picard leaves Will in charge of the bridge as he goes in search of her.

II.

Well, this is hardly what he thought they would be talking about when he was called to the conference room. (Especially after the Case of the Missing Chief Medical Officer.) Saying he’s surprised would be an Enterprise-sized understatement. On the infrequent occasions he imagined this moment, Captain Picard—or Worf, for that matter—never once made an appearance. And the announcement usually comes from Deanna, not the captain.

Deanna is pregnant.

“This is a surprise,” he says, noticing for the first time how far she sits from the rest of them.

“More so for me,” Deanna says. She meets his gaze directly, not backing down from the question in his voice.

The moment is broken when Dr. Pulaski, a slender woman with blonde hair, stands and walks over to the computer on the wall. As the ultrasound plays, Pulaski says something about the fetus being six weeks along, but that conception took place eleven hours ago.

“What?” he asks, knowing as soon as the word leaves his mouth that he sounds more like Deanna’s ex than the Enterprise’s first officer.

He turns to look at Deanna, but this time she keeps her gaze directed straight in front of her, examining the lines of the conference table or the stars on the other side of the window, he’s not sure.

Pulaski continues. The fetus is growing at an expedited rate—and is several weeks older in the second examination than in the first.

“At this growth rate, Counselor Troi will have her baby in about thirty-six hours,” Pulaski says. “The normal gestation rate for a Betazoid is ten months.”

Thirty-six hours.

Oh, this is too fucking much. His next question—and the one with the answer that matters the most to him—is going to sound rude and invasive no matter how he frames it. He tries to be as professional as possible.

“I don’t mean to be indelicate—but who’s the father?” (Maybe it’s not possible to sound professional in a situation like this he tells himself, sensing it’s probably a lie.)

If not him, who?

He’s not naive enough to think she would never find someone else. After all, hoping and thinking are two different things. He just always assumed he wouldn’t be around to see it. He had always assumed a moment like this would come after they had been separated by his ambition—and his desire to not repeat his father’s mistakes.

Finally, Deanna looks at him.

“Last night, while I slept, something, which I can only describe as a presence, entered my body,” she says, her tone a warning that his insinuation is not welcome.

Surprise of the day number two. Actually, maybe that’s a bigger surprise that finding out Deanna is pregnant. Surprise number one, then. (There are so many surprises on the Enterprise day-to-day that he finds it’s more worthwhile to list them based on importance—and urgency—rather than chronologically.)

Captain Picard speaks before he can find a response to that. “A life-form of unknown origin and intent is breeding right now inside Counselor Troi. Our purpose here is to determine what is to be done about this. Discussion.”

Will is listening to the captain, of course, but he can’t stop looking at Deanna. She isn’t looking at him. Isn’t looking at any of them, actually. He’s never really seen her like this before. He’s never known Deanna to be embarrassed in any situation—except when her mother was present. He’s certainly never really known her to be scared, either. He wishes they were alone. Knows he could comfort her better—or at all—if he could just be Will right now, and not Commander Riker.

Something Picard says forces Will to speak.

“Now wait,” Will begins but it isn’t quite right, so he tries again. “Now, let me get this straight. Deanna was impregnated by…what? Doctor, what do the tests show? Is it a humanoid? An alien?”

“It’s a male human. Or in this case, half human, half Betazoid.”

“Exactly the same as Deanna,” he says, looking to confirm what it sounds like Dr. Pulaski is saying.

“In every way. In fact, there is nothing to indicate that there are any genetic patterns other than hers.”

Why is he relieved?

The feeling of relief isn’t complete, though. There is still a strange entity occupying Deanna’s body without her consent. A mystery still has to be solved. But there is something comforting about knowing another man has not succeeded in winning her affections.

“I don’t think this is a random occurrence. I think there’s a purpose here—and a reason. What? I don’t know,” he says.

“Captain, obviously the pregnancy must be terminated for the safety of the ship and the crew,” Worf says.

He can hardly believe what he’s hearing.

“Worf, you can’t assume the intent was belligerent.”

“That is the safest assumption.”

“Captain,” Data says, “this is a life-form. Not to allow it to develop naturally would deny us the opportunity to study it.”

“If the fetus is aborted, laboratory analysis is still possible,” Worf counters.

Data and Worf are both so logical in their approaches. Normally, Will would find their sound judgment comforting, inspiring. He would be glad such excellent officers were aboard the Enterprise and that he had the privilege of serving with them. But right now? Right now he’s annoyed all they can think about is the fetus.

What about Deanna? What about their fellow crew member? Aren’t they concerned about her?

“Doctor, is there any health risk to Counselor Troi if the fetus is aborted?” he asks. If Worf and Data won’t think about Deanna, he will.

“Captain,” Deanna says from the end of the table. “Do whatever you feel is necessary to protect the ship and the crew, but know this—I’m going to have this baby.”

Well, he’s not quite sure where that lands on today’s list of surprises.

III.

It’s time.

He hears Data over Worf’s com, calling for the security team. Worf leaves a moment later, signalling for other security officers to meet him in sick bay. After the turbo lift doors close, Will turns to Captain Picard.

“Captain,” Will says, preparing to spin something about how it might be prudent to have the first officer present should a threat arise when Picard cuts him off.

“I think we’ll be just fine without you for now, Number One.”

Picard’s tone isn’t unkind, but instead seems to convey how much he understands—and that he won’t make Will say it out loud. Will nods and he’s off like a shot for sick bay. The turbo lift can’t move fast enough and as he passes through the Enterprise’s halls, it occurs to him that he’s the ship’s first officer, so he tries not to run. An anxious first officer, running about the Enterprise? No one he encountered would assume that was good. He tries to seem pleasant (and not like he’s on the verge of a heart attack) to every crew member he comes across. He’s walking fast, but not too fast. The closer he gets, the more he worries his presence might be an intrusion. Worries Deanna might not want him there. It isn’t their child, after all. (Part of him wishes it was.)

He isn’t just worried that Deanna might not want him there. The ultrasounds showed a half-human, half-Betazoid fetus. Nothing inherently threatening there. But what if there was a threat that hadn’t been detected? What if the birth was traumatic and violent? It had been centuries since child birth had been life-threatening, but what if the worse happened and Deanna couldn’t be saved? What if Worf had been right when he suggested terminating the pregnancy?

What if?

What if?

What if?

The reality of the scene in the maternity ward puts an end to his what ifs. He enters from a door in the back right corner. No one acknowledges him as he leans against the door frame, despite him being in view of everyone except Deanna. Data stands by Deanna’s side, clasping her hand as she breathes heavily. Worf and the security team stand at the edge of the room by the maternity ward’s main doors. Will reflects again on his imaginings of a moment such as this—again, Data and Worf were not present. He wonders if Deanna is uncomfortable, knowing that she seems to have gathered quite an audience for this moment of her life. Wonders if she would be uncomfortable if she happened to turn her head just a little and see he was also watching.

From her crouch in front of Deanna, he hears Pulaski say the baby is doing well. She tells Deanna to breathe, stay calm. And in a moment that comes so quickly he fears he might have missed it had he been delayed on the bridge a moment too long, the baby is born and crying fills the delivery room before stopping rather abruptly. Deanna beams. Pulaski and her nurse wrap the baby in a towel and clean him before handing him to Deanna.

Worf edges closer, examining the child in Deanna’s arms.

“Are easy births the norm for Betazoids?” Dr. Pulaski asks.

“Not according to my mother,” Deanna jokes, a little teary-eyed.

“You can come in the rest of the way now,” Pulaski says to Worf, who takes Data’s position by Deanna’s side to inspect the baby. “There’s no threat. You and your men can relax. It’s just a baby.”

Apparently satisfied that there is no threat, Worf backs off.

“Thank you for allowing me to participate,” Data says, sounding awestruck. “It was remarkable.”

Deanna doesn’t say anything, just alternates smiles between Data and her newborn baby.

“Do you have a name?” Pulaski asks Deanna.

“Ian Andrew, after my father.”

The baby has been born. The threat has been assessed. It’s now or never, he thinks. So he walks into the delivery room, going to stand opposite Data by Deanna’s side.

Deanna looks up at his approach and her smile is the most marvellous thing he thinks he’s ever seen. She’s okay. The baby is okay. He’s so relieved he could cry.

“Were you here all along?”

“Yes,” he says. “He’s beautiful, Deanna. Just like his mother.”

He bends to kiss her gently.

IV.

It’s the next day that the tiniest inkling of a problem is brought to Captain Picard’s and his attention during Pulaski’s first trip to the bridge.

As she sits with Will and Captain Picard, Pulaski tells them about the observations she has made regarding Deanna and her baby—and how strange they are.

“I’ve delivered dozens of babies,” Pulaski begins, “but none like this. There was no pain, no trauma.”

Will attests to how peaceful the birth seemed, even if he hadn’t necessarily noticed at the time—and even if he isn’t quite sure that this observation requires Pulaski to make a trip to the bridge.

“It was effortless for both of them,” Pulaski continues.

“I’m not sure of your point,” Picard says.

At least he and Picard are on the same page about this one, then.

“She had her baby yesterday. If I were to examine her now I would not be able to tell she had a baby or had ever had a baby. It was as if the incident never happened.”

After Data tells him there are about two hours left until the specimen transfer is complete, Captain Picard leaves Will in charge of the bridge and heads down to see Deanna and her baby.

Will is sure the relief he felt yesterday was premature.

V.

Will feels like they should have seen it coming. The fetus grew rapidly. Why wouldn’t that continue to happen now that Ian had been born? It seems so obvious now that it was already happening. Much like they were powerless to stop the fetus from growing, Will fears there is nothing Dr. Pulaski can do to help Ian. He knows from Captain Picard’s visit that Ian appears to be eight years old, despite being born a few days ago. It doesn’t take much to figure out what will happen if Ian’s ageing continues this way.

Unfortunately, Ian isn’t the only problem on the Enterprise that needs the crew’s attention.

One of the specimens is growing inside the containment module, and they’re quickly running out of options.

All the circuits are functional. The environments are as programmed. So it’s not a problem with the containment module itself. It isn’t even a goddamn sensor malfunction. And the computer confirms the growth. Will, Data, La Forge, and Hester Dealt, the man in charge of managing the specimens, have gotten that far when Pulaski comes into the cargo bay.

She presents them with another option: “Destroy it now.”

“I can’t,” Dealt says.

“Data, prepare to jettison the module,” Will says. It’s the only remaining viable option.

“We can’t do that either,” Dealt counters. “It will go into a spore and remain until it comes into contact with a planet or another ship and the results will be disastrous.”

Fuck.

There’s no way around this, is there?

“Commander, your attitude tells me that no matter how bad I think it is, it’s actually worse,” Will says, but it’s more of a question than a statement.

Dealt turns to the containment module. “This is not going to hold it.”

Will nods. “Go on.”

“The rate growth is increasing so rapidly within thirty minutes it’s going to push out of its module. Within two hours, it will break out of the containment area.” Dealt sounds only slightly panicked.

“No, no, no,” La Forge argues, tapping on the side of the containment module. “It can’t break through this.”

“Yes, it will,” Dealt says with certainty.

Will taps his com. “Captain, we may not be able to get control of this situation. I recommend we arrange a transfer of all non-essential personnel to the saucer section. And if we lose containment, we should be prepared to separate.”

“Make it so,” Picard replies.

“Why this one specimen and none of the others?” Pulaski wonders aloud. “Something is stimulating it.” She turns to Dealt. “Do you have the aetiology—do you know how it was developed?”

Dealt walks Pulaski over to one of the computers.

“It’s a mutated strain developed by Dr. Susan Nuress during an outbreak of plasma plague seventy years ago in the Oby System,” Pulaski reads. “It was number nine in a series of fifty-eight tests. The particular one bombarded by low levels of Eichner radiation.” Pulaski pauses, her mind clearly trying to come up with a solution. “Could exposure to Eichner radiation stimulate growth?”

Finally, it looks like they might actually be on to something.

“It could,” Dealt begins, looking down at the readings on the sensor he holds, “but I...I’ve got some.”

This is clearly not the reading Dealt expected.

“Why didn’t you detect this before?” Will asks, truthfully a little annoyed to discover the solution might have been that simple this whole time.

“I don’t know,” Dealt says. “It wasn’t here before.”

“Well, it is now,” Pulaski says. “What emits that type of radiation?”

“A subspace phase inverter,” Data says.

There’s just one problem with that. “We don’t have one,” La Forge says.

“Certain cyanoacrylates,” Data suggests, sounding a little less sure this time.

“Also not on this ship,” Pulaski says. “What else? Because it’s here and we better find it.”

They throw around a few more ideas before Pulaski receives a message over her com. There’s something wrong with Ian, and Deanna needs the doctor in her quarters right away. Will tells Data to come with him, and they both follow Pulaski to Deanna’s quarters.

When they get to Deanna’s quarters and the door slides open, Ian lies in his bed as Deanna sobs above him.

“It’s Ian! Hurry!” Deanna cries when she sees them.

Pulaski rushes to Ian’s side, gently moving Deanna out of the way. Data begins examining Ian on the other side.

As she moves her tricorder around Ian’s face, Pulaski asks, “What happened? Did he eat anything? Did he fall?”

Deanna clutches his hand to her chest as she sobs, shaking her head, desperate for an answer that will save her child’s life. “No.”

“Commander, the child is the source of the unusual radiation,” Data says after examining the results of his scan.

“Ian said he’s the reason the ship is in danger,” Deanna says, looking at Will directly.

“That analysis is correct,” Data says.

“I’m losing life signs,” Pulaski says.

“You must save him,” Deanna begs Pulaski.

Pulaski administers something to Ian, and then does another reading with her tricorder. Even checks the pulse on his neck the old-fashioned way. Will can tell from Pulaski’s face that Ian is gone. From the way she begins to break down, he knows Deanna knows, too.

“I’m sorry,” Pulaski says, and moves to come stand next to him, giving Deanna some space.

His heart breaks for her. He wants to go to her, to wrap her up in his arms, but this isn’t the moment. Besides, he’s pretty sure there’s no making this right.

Deanna kneels by Ian’s side. As she sobs, tiny points of light begin to appear all over Ian’s body before they all converge into one and Ian’s body has disappeared completely and the bed is empty. The single ball of light that remains floats over to Deanna to rest in her hands. As she looks into the ball, Deanna’s sobbing shifts to a smile, and then her face becomes serious once again. The light then leaves Deanna’s hands to fly out through the wall by the window above Ian’s bed.

What the hell was that?

La Forge comes over Will’s com: “Commander Riker, the containment field has…stabilized.”

He thanks La Forge for his update.

“Then Ian was right.” Deanna is crying again. “He was the cause.”

“Apparently so,” Will says softly.

Deanna continues to cry. He exchanges a look with Pulaski and Data.

“He is a life-force entity. When we passed each other in space, he was curious about us so he decided the best way to learn was to go through the process. To be born…to live as one of us and, in that way, to understand us,” Deanna explains. “He never meant any harm.”

“There was a moment when you smiled,” Will says.

She smiles again. “He said, ‘Thank you.’ I told him we will miss him.”

Deanna is crying again, and the urge to go to her hasn’t gone anywhere.

“And I will,” Deanna finishes, her sobs overwhelming her now.

It seems they all decide that now is time to leave Deanna alone. He follows Pulaski out, Data behind him.

VI.

The only thing left to do is to transfer the specimens and Dealt to the Rachelis system. As he watches Captain Picard and Dealt handle the final details from his position on the bridge, Will hopes he and Deanna might have a moment to talk about what has happened. He’s not really sure what to say exactly, but he goes through the clichés in his mind: how are you feeling?—is there anything I can do for you?—can I get you anything?—do you want to talk about it?—and finally, I love you and I’ll always be here when you need me.

But the moment never comes. When Deanna comes onto the bridge as the transfer is taking place, she flashes him a smile, and it’s as if nothing is wrong. If he didn’t know her as well as he does, he might believe that.


End file.
